Do you see what I see?

I spotted the space, the people and the security guard almost at the same time.

My very next thought was about the centre piece in this hidden from the street scene and how they might have engineered the water to flow invisibly to the surface and flow equally over the four edges. So, and now a few seconds have passed, I see the people – some tourists, some office workers – are going about their business and sitting and walking by.

The private security guard is staring at me as I survey the scene. He has decided for me that I should take a photograph.

It is becoming more and more frequent that I get approached by private security, which means that a) there’s a hell of a lot of great london architecture that is privately owned and patrolled and b) why target photographers?

I can understand stopping those of us that turn up with medium and large format cameras on a sturdy tripod. You might not be wrong jumping to the conclusion that this is a commercial effort for said photographer. I got pretty adept at setting up out of sight, running into position, shoot 3 frames and run away!

But as far as this guard knew, I had a little digital camera and was just taking a few snaps.

“You can’t take photographs here. It’s private property.”.

He’s right, I don’t have too many rights here, so I mumble protest and move on. I’d already got the shot.

I’m getting some flak for this image, but I stand by its value as a comment on so many of the architected spaces in central London.

3 responses to Do you see what I see?

Is the objection one of security risk (checking out points of entry, identity of security guards), or that you are potentially making money from an image of the buildings without them getting their cut?
I liked the light/dark splits in this image. Left/Right and Top/bottom.

I find it difficult to take the first reason seriously, if I were casing a joint then a technical camera with movements, low ISO sensor and centre filter on a manual focus lens, and 3 kg of tripod would hardly be my first choice – and yet that’s what draws their attention to me.
As to the second – isn’t all publicity good publicity? Does the owner of a multi million pound building really look to make a few pennies from a photo?
To my mind, the ass hat fits most appropriately – plus abject boredom and the opportunity to assert some authority.
What’s the furthest you’ve been from a building and still had security feel it appropriate to question you? My record is 150m and across a 6 lane road.
Great shot, and good question about the water?